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Friday, July 2, 2010

I know you have all been waiting for the next installment of Weird Laws of the U.S. It has been over a month since I did one of these. I love weird laws.

PENNSYLVANIA

In Bensalem it is illegal to operate Bingo games if you are a felon. Shouldn't that be on the Bingo application, if you have been convicted of a crime? Don't they screen potential operators?

In the same town it is illegal for operators of Bingo games to advertise the prizes they offer. Man, they have some strict Bingo rules in Pennsylvania. I want to know what I'm playing for.

RHODE ISLAND

It is illegal to possess a cap gun. It's because they look to much like real guns and they don't want to gun down someone with a fake gun. And making it illegal to own a real gun would just be plain silly.

It is illegal to string wire across a highway unless it is 14 feet higher than the surface. Say what?

SOUTH CAROLINA

Fortune tells must be licensed by the state. Is this where Miss Cleo went wrong?

It is illegal to work on Sunday. Who's running the churches down there?

TENNESSEE

It is illegal to bring a skunk into the state. Racist bastards!!

It is illegal to entice a child to purchase an alcoholic beverage. Hey kid, I will give you this lollipop if you go buy me a beer?

TEXAS

It is illegal to sell any of your organs. Dammit, I was told I could get $3000 for my spleen.

You must acknowledge the existence of a supreme being in order to hold a public office. I have always believed in the Spaghetti Monster. Mayoral election, here I come.

UTAH

It is illegal to sell alcohol during an emergency. What if the emergency is that there is no alcohol?

It is illegal to participate in a boxing match that allows biting. It would be too easy to make a Mike Tyson joke.

Interestingly, to reply to what Dezmond said, I live in one of those countries where all (or at least most) shops are closed on Sundays, and I don't consider Norway as all that religious (though we technically still have a state church...). We're just *very* concerned with having time off. As someone who works in retail, I actually think it is a pretty sweet deal.

BUT. What I was going to comment on were the hilarious laws above. It is wonderful that the great state of Tennessee is finally handling the terrible problem of using a kids to buy you beer. That must be very common. Now if only they could also include seeing eye dogs and talking parrots in that paragraph we might be approaching some civility!